Many of Caitlyn Emigh’s brightest memories are of time spent at Kid’s Kingdom.

Even after her childhood, the Rowlett park was a place that allowed Emigh, now 22, to strengthen her relationship with her sister, Mirana, who is 10 years younger.

“I have so many fond memories with her growing up in that park,” she said. “It was really a great bonding experience for us to go together to the park and have her play there.”

But in late May, signs reading “closed for maintenance” went up and make-believe adventures of playing on the high seas were put on hold.

The playground, located in Pecan Grove, behind the Rowlett Community Centre and next to Rowlett High School, was built by the community in 1998, with everyone from firefighters to high school students pitching in. But since then, the structures had deteriorated to a point beyond repair.

A safety inspection revealed that the park’s two wooden play structures were built with materials containing chromate copper arsenate, which contains arsenic and was federally banned for play areas a decade ago because of health risks associated with chemical contamination.

“By the time we replace all of the lumber, the structural beams and the fasteners, you’ve built a new playground. So that’s what led us to the conclusion that Kid’s Kingdom must come down,” city manager Lynda Humble said at the June 4 work session where the council approved the park’s tear down.

While other cities with similar parks, such as Mesquite and Denton, would routinely shut down their parks for routine maintenance, Rowlett did not.

“We’ve been digging this hole for a while,” Mayor Todd Gottel said at the work session. “When you don’t put money into something, and you continually don’t put money into it, there’s only so much you can do with patching stuff back together.

“It goes back to lack of investment.”

Caitlyn’s mother, Janet Emigh was one of the volunteers involved in the assembly. Resident foremen headed up certain parts of the park. Tools were lent by residents.

A day care was set up at the community center, so that parents could work.

And construction of the park was completed in a week.

“You worked as much as you could, all the daylight hours,” said Janet Emigh, who remembers sanding a giant tic-tac-toe board. “It was a community effort like I had never seen before."

The $100,000 park was paid for with donations from individuals and corporations, as well as by the city of Rowlett.

With its maze of swings and slides, a pirate ship and a firehouse pole, “this was no regular playground,” Janet Emigh said. “It was an adventure park.”

And now, the community will have to come together to build again.

The city has allocated $100,000, previously earmarked for alley repair, and hopes residents will match that amount with donations to help finance Kid’s Kingdom’s replacement.

Donors for the original park were honored with fence pickets engraved with their name or the name of a family member, which were moved to city hall and are available for pickup.

Caitlyn Emigh retrieved the post with her name on it on the morning of June 19, a memento of her time spent at the park.

She was distressed to hear the news that it would be torn down and concerned that there was no resident input regarding the park’s upcoming disassembly. The June 4 meeting was her first time speaking before the council.“I felt like my input meant something,” she said later.

Disassembly began the morning following the council meeting.

When Caitlyn Emigh arrived around 9 a.m., her favorite part, the pirate ship, was already gone.

“At the very least they should have given us a chance to go back to get a picture,” she said.

But given the city’s liability, taking a swift approach was the only option.

“We know it was pretty beloved by the community,” parks director Jermel Stevenson said, “but just like a doctor has an ethical obligation to help a patient, once you know about an issue, you have an obligation to do something about it.”

“The parks department is more than basketball and hula hoops,” Stevenson said. “We’re concerned about our community’s health and wellness.”